Senator Andy Uba, the defeated governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Anambra election has doubled down on his claim that Chukwuma Soludo, the governor-elect stole his mandate..

He claimed he was the winner and will retrieve it from Soludo.

Uba said this on Saturday at a meeting with APC stakeholders in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

At the meeting, the senator called on his supporters not to lose hope assuring his mandate would be recovered.

He alleged that there was widespread manipulation of the election.

“We will do everything possible to recover the mandate. Don’t lose hope; don’t weep. The election was grossly manipulated and it obvious to everybody.”

After the Anambra election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Prof Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance the winner of the November 6 governorship election in the state

Soludo polled 112,229 votes to defeat his closest contender, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, who scored 53,807 to emerge second.

Uba of the APC polled 43,285 votes to emerge third.

Uba had previously rejected the outcome of the election describing the result as a charade.

He said the result was not reflective of the wishes and aspirations of the people of the state.